Mainstream, which has begun construction on the $90-million project, will operate and maintain the wind farm after it’s completed in the second half of next year, the Dublin-based developer said Thursday.

IKEA in August agreed to buy a wind farm in Ireland from Mainstream as part of the retailer’s plan to invest US$2.4 billion in wind and solar by 2015.

“This wind farm in Alberta, along with existing solar installations at three of our Ontario stores, is a significant step to achieving Ikea’s global ambition to be energy independent by 2020,” Kerri Molinaro, president of IKEA Canada, said in a statement.

IKEA’s foray into southern Alberta is the latest example of a large retailer or technology company branching into green energy.

Related

Also Thursday, Google Inc. and KKR & Co. said they would acquire six solar farms under development in California by Sharp Corp.’s Recurrent Energy in a deal worth US$400-million.

The six solar projects have a combined capacity of 106 megawatts and will be in service by January, according to a statement. Google has invested more than US$1-billion in renewable energy.

The 20-turbine wind farm purchased by IKEA, located roughly 215 kilometres south of Calgary in Pincher Creek, will be the largest owned by a Canadian retailer, IKEA said.

It is expected to generate 161 gigawatt-hours of power each year, or more than double the total energy consumption of IKEA Canada, the company said. The output is equivalent to the consumption of 32 IKEA stores or the average power consumption of 13,500 Canadian homes, IKEA said.

The company has committed to own 157 wind turbines worldwide and has installed more than 500,000 solar panels on its buildings in nine countries, it said.

Power produced by the project will be delivered onto Alberta’s energy grid. The wind farm is expected to be operational by the fall of 2014, the retailer said.

Thursday’s purchase could be as much about branding as it is about energy, said Michael Moore, professor of energy economics at the University of Calgary. IKEA, like other companies, may want “to protect their ability to say we’re green, we’re buying wind,” he said. “IKEA is kind of protecting their position.”

Alberta Energy Minister Ken Hughes lauded IKEA’s investment. “The development of renewable energy has been and will continue to be important to a sustainable future for Alberta,” the minister said in a statement.

Alberta has been trying to burnish its green credentials as the U.S. State Department weighs approval of TransCanada Corp.’s contentious Keystone XL pipeline to Texas refineries.

U.S. President Barack Obama has said the pipeline, designed to funnel in excess of 800,000 barrels of extra-thick crude south from Alberta’s oil fields, would be approved so long as it doesn’t worsen carbon pollution.

Environmentalists have singled out rising output from the Alberta’s bitumen deposits as a key reason Canada will miss a targeted 17% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels by the end of this decade.

Increased production from the oil sands is expected to drive a 23% jump in oil- and gas-related emissions by 2020 from 2005 levels, according to Environment Canada.

Alberta has more than 5,000 megawatts of untapped wind energy, according to the Canadian Wind Energy Association.